You have all seen my 78 black / silver lariat and my blue 78 bog truck. Here is my 74 supercab that I'm building. I shortened the frame and bed to factory shortbed specs and am putting a 78/79 square headlight grill in with the racetrack trim. It will be vermillion red inside and out, but 2 toned with colonial white inside the racetrack trim only. Hope to be painting next week, here is the progress so far...

Started with this....


Ready to make the cut..


Measure twice, cut once!!


All square and plated on inside..


Looks short, but is factory spec for shortbed.


Time to shrink the bed..



A little work with a body hammer to fold sides around the corner and a few spot welds then we are done...


Oh Yeah!


Had to get rid of the gas cap!!



Added a 98 F150 gas door....



Body work is getting close now...


More pics next week, hopefully with shiney paint!!

 

Finely a build thread. Been hearing you talk about it and really wanted to see it. Looks very good and hope everything turns out the way you want it to. Can't wait to see paint on it.

 

Very nice job. I wish I could do body work like that.

 

Wow nice work shortening it!

 

NICE!!!! Shortening a bed doesn't look like all that now that I've seen it done. Although I hope I don't try it anytime soon.

 

Awesome fabricating amd body work. I don't think I've got big enough kehonies to cut a frame in half.

 

wow, nice work! can't wait to see the finished product!

 

Thanks guys, I'll try to keep the pics coming. I hadn't been on here much lately and forgot how much fun it is talking trucks with you guys.

 

holy crap man! that is amazing how you can cut a truck in two and put it back together and it looks stock. i cant believe you can just cut a bed in two and put it back as a short bed that easy. I think i want to do that on mine now, very very cool! can i email you questions if i run into some? do you do this for a living? how did you get started? too many questions im sorry. awesome build and great craftsmanship!!

 

Nice work. Id thought about making my supercab into a short bed when i first got it but the long bed has kinda grown on me. I replied in the other thread about the rocker trim but havent heard anyhting back form you. Im interested in it, just let me know. thanks

 

Reading this, two things popped into mind.....

#1: All the guys that seem confused when looking at their vin and their truck is not what it's supposed to be. As I said on SO many occasions, these trucks are 33+ years old. There's no telling what has been done to them.

#2: When looking at four pictures people assume it's a cake walk to cut a truck in half and weld it back together. In reality, it's not terribly difficult, BUT it's not something I'd recommend for the novice builder. What isn't showed are the hours spent with a tape measure and grease pencil to get the cut lines perfect. (Red, we both know it was measure twice, measure again, check the specs, measure again, check the other measurements, measure again, draw a line, measure again, measure one last time, then cut.) The plasma cutter to get the complex cuts perfect. Then the skill of the welder to trim everything and put it back together and NOT have it look like a potato chip.

Yes, lots of stuff "behind the scenes" here.

Now having said all that, I SOOOO can't wait to see this thing in paint! That is one very cool truck!

 

Awesome project! I love SuperCabs!

 

Thanks guys.

Booger- Yes, I do this stuff for a living. Own a body shop with 12 employees and we also do mechanical and performance engine building on the pre 90's stuff. Your welcome to email me anytime you like, I'd be happy to help where I can.
pinto_351- shoot me an email, I wont be using the rocker trim since I went to racetrack trim on this truck. timspur@yahoo.com

earthquake68-
You know it man, this thing started as a 74 F-350 long bed. When I'm done it will appear to be a 78 or 79 Ranger Lariat F-250 Short bed. Decode that vin, haha.. Next winter I think it will grow a transfer case and a front axle, then things will really be different! You are also correct, I took a lot of measurements and thought 4 or 5 times before I cut, then just as many before I welded. It isn't that hard, but you do need the basic skills and tools to go cutting trucks in half and putting them back together. I've shortened a lot of trucks and still look at each new job as a challenge.
Hopefully next week I'll have some color on this pig!

 

Wow, nice job on shortening the frame and bed. I bet it will look good when the color is applied.
Kinda wish I was closer, looks like you wind up with a lot of LWB trim that has no place to fit on the trucks after they're done. Around here, I haven't had much luck locating a useable LWB upper trim molding, and shipping a piece that size can be be pricey thanks to the nearly 8 ft length.

 

thats awesome man, super cabs look awesome with short beds